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The Influence of Animal Protein Factor Supplements and Antibiotics on the Incidence and Severity of White Feathers in Turkeys

Two Figures

Departments of Poultry Husbandry and Animal Nutrition, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, Canada

The inclusion of an APF supplement in a soybean oil meal diet resulted in marked improvement in growth and feed efficiency. When this APF supplement was added to a sunflower seed oil meal diet, containing 0.9% of lysine, little or no response occurred in growth and feed efficiency. None of the birds fed the soybean oil meal diets developed white feathers, while all the birds fed the sunflower seed oil meal diets showed this condition. The addition of the APF supplement to the sunflower seed oil meal diet increased the severity of the white feather syndrome.

In a further experiment, groups of birds were fed diets containing 20 and 28% protein supplemented with an APF concentrate. Although the 20% protein diet contained 1.2% of lysine, over 50% of the birds developed the white bar condition of the flight feathers. Only an insignificant number of white feathers appeared in the group fed the 28% protein diet with 1.9% of lysine.

In a final experiment, groups of birds were fed diets containing 20 and 28% protein with and without penicillin, aureomycin and an APF supplement. The antibiotics and APF supplement resulted in a much greater response in growth and feed efficiency when added to the 28% than to the 20% protein diet. Supplementing the diet containing 20% protein and 1.2% lysine with penicillin, aureomycin or the APF concentrate, resulted in a high incidence of white feathers.

The results indicate that certain APF concentrates, penicillin and aureomycin increase the lysine requirement of the poult for normal feather pigmentation. It is also suggested that these materials increase the requirement of this species for other amino acids. Possible explanations of these effects may be that, under the influence of certain APF supplements and antibiotics, the availability of ingested nutrients is increased or an unknown growth factor, or factors, is synthesized in the intestinal tract.